World leaders tore up a carefully prepared summit agenda Saturday and turned their attention to a growing crisis in the Middle East, hoping to reach common ground on ways to stop the fighting. Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was grateful that President Bush came early for bilateral talks that Putin said would allow them to synchronize their watches on a host of world crises and provide a "boost to the G8 summit."Putin designed this year's Group of Eight economic summit, the first to be held in Russia, to showcase his country's re-emergence on the world stage after a devastating economic collapse in 1998. He had hoped to focus on energy security, the fight against infectious diseases and education.... http://www.foxnews.com

An Israeli air raid has killed at least 13 Lebanese civilians who were fleeing southern border areas. Women and children were among those killed when the convoy was hit. "Bodies litter the road", an eyewitness said. Israel has expanded its campaign launched after Hezbollah militants seized two Israeli soldiers. More than 70 Lebanese have been killed. Hezbollah has responded with rockets. Several have hit the town of Tiberias in the deepest such attack in Israel. Three Israeli sailors are missing after their ship was hit by a Hezbollah missile on Friday. The body of a fourth was found, according to Israeli media. The ship caught fire after it was hit by an Iranian-made missile, the Israeli military said. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/in_pictures_voices_from_the_streets_of_beirut/img/laun.jpg

When two men laundered the money they nabbed in a bank robbery, authorities said, they took the literal approach.Anthony Digiosaffatte and Paul Villanueva stuck some of the cash in a washing machine to cleanse it of red dye from a special pack that exploded during the heist, authorities said.The men stole $65,000 at gunpoint from a bank in Queens on Tuesday, according to criminal complaints. Digiosaffatte told the tellers, "No dye packs," the complaints said, referring to packs of dye banks use to foil robbers by making stolen money unusable.No such luck....http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/07/15/money.laundering.ap/index.html?section=cnn_us

About 150 protesters faced off with police Saturday as they tried to exercise their right of assembly despite the Kremlin's determination to keep a lid on demonstrations during the Group of Eight summit. Authorities limited the main protest activity to a stadium in a hard-to-reach part of the city and had prohibited any marches. But protesters walked out to the gateway entrance and asked police there for permission to continue marching outside the stadium.Organizers told police they would guarantee order, but authorities refused to allow the march and said they must stay in the stadium. The demonstrators erupted in chants....http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,203815,00.html

Bush backed away on Saturday from a public confrontation over Russia's democracy with President Vladimir Putin, adhering to a pledge not to lecture the Kremlin leader. At a joint news conference, the two made clear they discussed their differences privately on what critics say are declining civil liberties in Russia, and stepped gingerly around the issue in their public comments. With Bush needing Russia's help on pressuring Iran and North Korea to forswear nuclear weapons, and with Middle East violence surging, democracy issues did not appear to play as dominating role in their talks as when they met in Slovakia last year. Bush said it came up at their social dinner on Friday night. ...http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2196049

Israeli warplanes struck Lebanon for a fourth day, reportedly killing at least 26 people, hours after Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah declared war with Israel and an Israeli navy gunboat was hit off Beirut. Israeli air strikes hit a van and a taxi, as well as power stations, gas stations and bridges, Lebanese police said. The Israeli army said targets included a second attack on Hezbollah's headquarters in southern Beirut and bridges on Lebanon's border with Syria. A Lebanese police official said at least 84 people had been killed and 218 wounded in Israeli air strikes since July 12 in violence sparked by the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah, a Shiite fundamentalist group. Thirteen Israelis have died, including nine soldiers, according to the Israeli army....http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ahrISH0oLLos&refer=top_world_news